lend itself to

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

lend itself to (third-person singular simple present lends itself to, present participle lending itself to, simple past and past participle lent itself to)

  1. (transitive, idiomatic) To be suitable for; be amenable to.
    • 1916, George Santayana, Egotism in German Philosophy:
      The belief in a romantic chaos lends itself to pessimism, but it also lends itself to absolute self-assertion.
    • 1952 May, Frank Jeffares, “Irish Railway Coastal Defence”, in Railway Magazine, page 304:
      A secondary protective device used near Greystones consists in the planting of bent grass and sea couch grass to aid reclamation of certain areas. Unfortunately, bent grass lends itself to the formation of dunes, which are very vulnerable. Sea couch grass has proved the best so far.

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